CHANGING TURKEY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1924, Page 10

CHANGING TURKEY.

FLATS INSTEAD OF HAREMS. . The rapid disappearance of the “Pidturesque Turkey” of the times when the small upper class lived on a grand scale, is commented. on by a prominent. Turkish writer, Subiii Nourey Bey. He. writes: Those who knew Constantinople fifteen years ago can recall the large num-bers-of private carriages, whereas today .the Turks owning private motorcars cbiild be counted on ten fingers. In the old days there was no. well-to-do household, which, had not. its, head chef. To-day one would look in vain for head chefs, or for the legendary eunuchs, or even for foreign governesses and tutors. Families used to have immense konaks (private mansions) in town, as well as kiosks (summerhouses) , on the heights above the Bosphorus, and yalis (houses on the waterside). The modern apartment house has done .away with all this. It has made it useless to have numerous servants. It has drawn the bonds of family life closer. We are beginning to hive * middle-class with hearths and homes. In konaks the family was separated. The women lived in the haremlik, the men in the selamlik, and the children were confided to the negligent care of slaves. All these old customs have disappeared. The life of a family under the Empire offers no point of contact with the life of a. Turkish family of to-day. The harem is dead.. Life, in flats has modernised the Turk. These changes arise from purely, economic necessities. Bemg no longer possessed of monetary resources, we are unable any longer to cause others. to work for us. Wars have ruined us. It remains for us to become producers instead of consumers.